Deuce Redux
by Jennifier D
Summary: [TezuRyo] "You're wearing Kunimitsu-kun's shirt, aren't you?" -- Sequel to 'Deuce'


**Author's notes: **  
The pre-planned sequel to 'Deuce', set over a year after Ryoma and Tezuka started dating. I'm beginning to see a pattern for my tenipuri fanfics -___- I think, this is going to be the last sequel :P cos there are too many muses queuing up behind demanding for their pairing to be written. And I'm trying to make all of them happy without making myself miserable. Which isn't working out, of course *sigh* Less complication, maybe a bit more humour, and Ryoma just need another couple of years to be legal. So now you all know what my biggest nitpick is. Ryoma's age. Ochibi ought to grow up faster ~_~

**Disclaimer and Warning: **  
All copyrights of Tennis no Oujisama belong to Konomi Takeshi-sensei. I'm not making money out of this, and I seriously doubt that I can, anyway. Just a precautionary note, it'll be nice to read 'Deuce' before 'Deuce Redux', but it's not absolutely necessary. You can simply assume that the two of them got together under some other situation then :)

**Edit:** Ahh, I almost forgot about this! Many thanks to all my reviewers X3 You guys are the best :D 

Date Started: 100703

-----

  
'Sundays are good days.'

That was the only thought on Ryoma's mind as he scrambled out of his bed, Karupin in tow. Sundays were also family days, except that his family wasn't very traditional, and Nanjirou wasn't the kind of man who would act all fatherly simply because he could.

"Ohayou gozaimasu, Ryoma-san." Nanako's morning greeting was cheerful.

"Ohayou," with sleep-mussed hair and barely opened eyes, Ryoma almost flopped onto his chair and waited for breakfast to be served. Karupin settled itself on his lap, tail swishing from side to side in some sort of strange anticipation.

"Are you going out with Tezuka-san today?"

"Un."

Nanjirou glanced at his son from over the top of his newspaper (which was hiding one of his echi photo books again, of course). He snorted, then drawled in an annoying tone, the grin on his face sly. "Are the two of you dating?"

Ryoma gave his father a droll look.

Breakfast was eaten in silence, broken once by Nanako confiscating Nanjirou's book yet again. Bored and annoyed, the older man picked on his son in a non-committable manner until Ryoma disappeared upstairs to change. When he thought about it seriously, he decided that he didn't care if his son was dating men either. Of course, if his son was dating cute girls, it would be a bonus (for himself), but as long as he played tennis...

Who cared if his boy was going out with his former team captain?

"I'm going out." Ryoma announce before closing the door behind himself and walking out to meet Tezuka, who was waiting by the gate, dressed for tennis.

Nanjirou watched his son in silence, suddenly realising how much his son had grown up over the course of one year... and how the two boys seemed to look right together, even though they were walking in silence. There was definitely something there. He was curious to know, but...

The former tennis champion shrugged.

Maybe on another day. He was too lazy to get out of the house today.

Karupin watched Ryoma's disappearing silhouette intently, meowing softly and turning to gaze at Nanjirou only when it could no longer see them. Engrossed in the photo book he managed to retrieve from Nanako, Nanjirou noticed none of Karupin's antics.

Sundays were Tezuka-days.

And it was a good day today.

  
**Deuce Redux**  
by  
Jennifier D.

  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


..........

'Tennis belongs to the individualistic past - a hero, or at most a pair of friends or lovers, against the world.'  
--Jacques Barzun

..........

  
It was around noon when the both of them took a break and decided to go somewhere for lunch. The weather was extremely warm, but nowhere near scorching hot yet. As the both of them walked, Ryoma bounced a tennis ball on his racket, something he did out of habit. Tezuka was quiet, the frame of his body lined with a type of new tension.

They would be going down to Tezuka's house later.

Despite having dated for over a year... this would be the first time Ryoma actually visited Tezuka's house. It was said that the former buchou came from an extremely traditional family. Normally, Ryoma wouldn't be bothered about the type of families his friends came from. Nobody could possibly have a family as dysfunctional as his. But since it would be the first time he got to meet Tezuka's family, and even though he was not going to be introduced to them as Tezuka's boyfriend (not if they still want to continue dating), he felt that there was a need for him to put up a good impression.

Ryoma wasn't sure of where the urge came from, but there was that urge, all the same.

Despite appearances, Ryoma knew that Tezuka was worried. After being together for over one year, such small shifts and changes in the buchou's emotions could be easily detected by Ryoma. He had grown used to the other's presence, after all. A lot of people might not believe that the stoic former buchou of the famous Seigaku Tennis Club was someone who had a range of emotions, but Ryoma knew better.

In regards to the people around them, it was on the last day of school when everyone finally found out Ryoma and their buchou were dating. The commotion it caused was almost as big as the one they had when everyone was trying to figure out who Tezuka's love interest was.

The girls were the ones who made the most noise. The amount who were crying versus the amount who were cheering was almost the same. Tomoka had almost wailed her head off. But as scary as that girl had been, she was someone who bounced back easily enough. Moments after she started wailing, she suddenly brightened up and started the 'Support Group' for those girls who were still crying and convinced them that Ryoma-sama's happiness was more important than theirs.

Sakuno... she gave him one of her wide-eyed looks. The type that spoke of much devastation and despair, but she couldn't seem to make her mouth work. She had approached him amidst the chaos, nervousness battling against despair and something like anger apparent on her face. Ryoma was a little apprehensive of her, since she was known to do girly things which he always failed to understand. For his tendency to misunderstand, or fail to understand girls, boy wonder had been called thick in the head by several others before. Not that he cared. There were more things in life than girls and their strange responses.

Eventually, Sakuno ran off crying, but not before she cried out 'Ryoma is an idiot!' and kicked him on the shin.

That had hurt.

Out of the whole tennis club, Oishi, Fuji, Inui and Kaidou were the only ones who didn't say a single thing during the revelation. Fuji had a knowing look on his face, and smiled encouragingly at Ryoma whenever the latter's line of vision (somehow) crossed with his. It was a little hard to tell with Fuji's eyes closed half the time, but Ryoma was sure that Fuji had grinned at him and given him thumbs up.

Oishi looked a little embarrassed but he didn't say anything to Ryoma due to the amount of chaos going on around them. Later he had discreetly pulled Ryoma aside and told him some very important information on Tezuka. Information which Ryoma wasn't going to divulge anytime soon.

As for Inui... the eccentric upperclassman had opened his notebook, scribbled something in it, then laughed very, very softly to himself in a monotonous manner. Once. Hahaha. That was it. It was very peculiar and somehow, boy wonder wasn't too interested to know what he was laughing about. Ryoma overheard him talking to Tezuka later, mumbling about something along the lines of whether his book on dating tips had been useful, and then, giving Tezuka advice on how to 'train' Ryoma better. Somehow, Ryoma realised that he didn't want to know what THAT was about either.

Kaidou... as for Kaidou-- he simply disappeared. With a rather deep flush on his face. He hissed a few times at the people who tried to stall him and almost took off. It was very strange. Of course, Inui was the one who found him later, but nobody had any idea about what was going on in the mamushi's head.

Kikumaru and Momoshirou were probably the two who made the most amount of noise in the tennis club, right after those fans of Ryoma and Tezuka. Kikumaru wouldn't stop hounding Oishi for information, and practically whined to his doubles partner about why he was kept in the dark. He also went on at length about how sly Ryoma and his buchou had been to hide the (joyous) news from everyone. Momoshirou decided that he didn't want to know what Ryoma and Tezuka did in their free time. But he was happy for them, all the same. He said it was about time someone reigned in the brat of their team.

Kawamura was shy and hesitant when he congratulated both Ryoma and Tezuka, until Momoshirou slyly handed him a racket. If anyone in their tennis club wasn't aware of Ryoma and Tezuka's relationship, they probably would know by the time Kawamura was done shouting his encouragements and giving them his blessings. The upperclassman also proclaimed that anyone who didn't approve of Ryoma and Tezuka's decision could face him and then reconsider their opinions. It was very heart-warming, but also extremely frightening in its own way. Ryoma thought that it was a good thing Kawamura was rooting for them and not against them.

Ryuzaki-sensei had been one of those who grinned and patted both boys on their backs. The reactions of the other tennis club members were a mixture of some hesitant joy, some nervousness, some shock, some awe and some grief. He couldn't remember everyone's reactions, but he remembered Arai and his friends turning stock still and staring at them with saucer-like eyes.

It was amazing how the news didn't get to his parents. Then again, Ryoma remembered that Ryuzaki-sensei wasn't the type of person who would gossip about such matters. Whatever which happened on that day was kept to the courts, and none of it leaked out, due to a plea made by Oishi to everyone who was present. And everyone was gracious enough to grant the former fuku-buchou his request. Nobody wanted the day to end in sorrow after all.

"Ryoma," and Ryoma looked up at the sound of Tezuka's voice, then stilled the tennis ball he was bouncing.

"Hm?"

"Are you going for the onsen trip organised by Kikumaru and Oishi?" There was no smile on Tezuka's face.

"Nn." Then a pause. "Are you going?"

Nothing but the softly echoing sound of footsteps, then a low and soft 'Nn.'

A smirk surfaced on Ryoma's face. It was going to be fun. He loved bathhouses and hot springs... and well, since Tezuka was going, of course it was going to be fun.

The both of them had lunch, then decided to go down to Tezuka's house instead of continuing with practice. Tezuka wanted to be home before anybody else because in this manner, he only had to deal with his grandfather and not the full family. The former buchou served tea and snacks to Ryoma before going off to change. While the older boy was gone, Tezuka grandfather appeared out of nowhere and took his seat opposite Ryoma at the table. There was something very quiet and very sharp about his features. Something which reminded Ryoma of Tezuka.

"Ojiisama." Tezuka's voice was low and steady when he returned to the room, dressed in a yukata.

The old man's voice was stricter than Ryoma had imagined. "Please proceed."

To the younger boy's surprise, he was led to another room, which was equipped with tea ceremony utensils. To say the truth, Ryoma had never attended a formal Japanese tea ceremony before. His family wasn't as traditional as Tezuka's, and he had definitely never learned how to do tea ceremony while he was living in the states. Tezuka's grandfather seemed to understand that, and guided him along as a second guest.

Ryoma watched Tezuka's performance, his movements smooth and fluid. The grace with which he cleaned and wiped his utensils before preparing tea had suggested that he was trained in the art since young. And as Tezuka started preparing tea, his grandfather started explaining to Ryoma what was going on.

"Usually, the guest chat with the host or other guests while the host is preparing tea. But Kunimitsu has alerted me of the fact that you have grown up overseas, and you might not be familiar with the tea ceremony. Now, after he has served his guests sweets like he did just now, he will proceed with the clean-up of his utensils for making tea. Each movement he makes during the tea ceremony has a meaning behind it, and he must execute all of them with precision as well as grace. When he..."

For the first time in his life, Ryoma found himself intrigued by tea ceremony. Something which Tezuka executed with as much grace as he did during tennis. The movements he made, the swish of his yukata sleeve, the sound of water running and being whisked to make a cup of fine tea... it was almost therapeutic.

Ryoma learned how to serve himself a sweet, when to eat it in anticipation of drinking tea. He learned how to drink tea in the proper manner, how to thank his host after he was done... all the polite language they use during tea ceremony, also known as 'keigo' was a little difficult to understand. Most of the time, he followed as indicated by Tezuka's grandfather, and before he knew it, the ceremony was over.

As Tezuka's grandfather moved out of the room, Ryoma stood up and tried to follow. There was a brief pause as he swayed on his feet, the sudden movement making him faint. It was also about when boy wonder realised that both of his legs were rather numb and he wasn't exactly able to move them.

With a wide-eyed look, Ryoma toppled over onto the tatami floor ever so slowly.

  
-----

  
Ryoma was embarrassed that Tezuka had to carry him to his room. They couldn't possibly leave him in the tea ceremony room, and by then Tezuka's grandfather had drifted off elsewhere. When Tezuka came back to the room to look for Ryoma, he found the younger boy sitting on the tatami floor wincing. Before Ryoma could protest, Tezuka had already picked the younger boy up and carried him to his own room, Ryoma yelping the whole way due to pins and needles.

It was a good thing that the route to Tezuka's room from the tea ceremony room was short.

Like the other parts of the house, Tezuka's room was littered with newer furniture, but they were not so new that they clashed with the decoration and feeling of the old house. In fact, Tezuka's house reminded Ryoma of his own house, a little. The tea ceremony room had been the most traditional part of his home. Other than that, the other rooms in the house were more or less normal, but all of them gave off a rich feeling of age.

Tezuka left Ryoma sitting on his bed, then disappeared for a brief moment, returning with fresh tea and snacks. While the older boy was gone, Ryoma massaged his legs, trying to get some feeling back into them. The tea ceremony hadn't been long, but Ryoma wasn't used to kneeling for any period of time, to say the truth. And he was so mesmerised by Tezuka's movements that he had forgotten about his legs.

"How are your legs?"

Ryoma looked up, then stared. "I think they're recovering."

Tezuka only nodded, then sat down on the bed, his gaze on Ryoma watchful.

Boy wonder stretched out his legs and tested if they had died yet. Satisfied that he wasn't maimed for life, Ryoma turned to Tezuka and inquired in a curious voice. "How long have you been learning tea ceremony?"

"Ever since I was a child."

"Ehh..."

There was nothing but silence for several moments. Tezuka then stood up and started rummaging in his cupboard. "Do you want to change into something clean?"

Ryoma glanced down at his sweat-soaked t-shirt, then up at the mildly inquiring on Tezuka's face. "Nn."

He had expected Tezuka's shirt to be bigger than his. But not by that much. The sleeves nearly ended at his elbows. The end of the shirt was somewhere around his hip. Ryoma observed himself critically before the wall mirror before turning to Tezuka. There was a glimmer of a smile on the older boy's face.

Boy wonder shrugged, then settled down on Tezuka's bed again, stretching out his legs.

Tezuka picked up his tea cup and sipped from it quietly, still leaning against his cupboard.

There was nothing but silence in the small room. And the silence persisted even long after Ryoma left. The space between both boys wasn't awkward. It never was... but Ryoma didn't feel the need to do anything, and Tezuka didn't look as if he was going to do anything soon, to say the truth. Furthermore, who knew where Tezuka's grandfather would be lurking at? The old man had an uncanny ability to appear and disappear as and when he liked.

After Ryoma reached home, his father had given him a critical once over and said, "Ohohohohoho... someone had fun today huh? So the two of you are dating after all..."

Ryoma stared.

"You're wearing Kunimitsu-kun's shirt, aren't you?"

There was a mental curse from Ryoma.

"Had a good time? Lots of fun? Need tips? Next time, don't wear his shirt back. You were in a hurry, weren't you? Just grabbed his shirt and left, didn't you? Ahhhh... it is sure good to be young..."

If Ryoma could, he would have shot his father in the head.

It would make his life simpler, at any rate.

After Ryoma went upstairs, Nanjirou continued talking at the top of his voice about a variety of things, like how he should teach his boyfriend to have more varied facial expressions, how he should try and make him have a sense of humour. He also told Ryoma to behave until he was old enough to be legal, not that he minded his son doing things way before he was legal but it would always be nice to abide by the law. And he asked for juicy details.

Boy wonder was in a considerably foul mood for the rest of the day. When his mother asked him what was wrong, he refused to tell her, and Nanjirou started talking about how children nowadays were all so rebellious and how they never listened to their parents anymore.

Ryoma couldn't wait to move out of the house. But... he had something else to do before he could move out of the house.

He had to beat his father at tennis. Shut him up.

For good.

  
-----

  
It was almost a week later that Tezuka found himself immersed in extremely hot water with a very naked Ryoma.

That was good news. Except that... well, the downside of it was, the rest of the former Seigaku Tennis Club regulars were all soaking in the same pool of hot water. It wasn't even a very big pool of water. At least, it didn't feel very big when one was stuck in it with eight other growing teenagers.

Maybe he could get more soaking later at his room. He had a private pool outside his room after all. It made him wonder about his decision to join the others at the common pool. Well, maybe the fact that he was (inevitably) forced to share a room with Ryoma (not that he minded it very much, actually) might have something to do with his decision.

The onsen was managed by one of Oishi's relatives, which might explain why they all got such good rooms. While Tezuka was sharing a room with Ryoma, Oishi was sharing one with Kikumaru. Inui opted to share with Kaidou. This left Momoshirou, Fuji and Kawamura in the same room.

Tezuka was used to common showers. He was used to common bathhouses too. He was used to a lot of things, actually, but he wasn't used to doing them with eight other people whom he practically ate and lived with during his last year at Seigaku Junior High. There was nothing to be shy about, but something was not quite right.

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the others kept nudging him in Ryoma's direction.

Boy wonder was ignoring everyone and everything around him, soaking blissfully in a corner of the pool. Nothing seemed to be able to disturb him from his almost meditative soaking. When he told Tezuka he liked onsen and bathhouses, Tezuka didn't know he liked them _that_ much. But he was fine with the agreement. He found no problem with it, in fact.

"Ne ne Tezuka..." Kikumaru piped up and Tezuka turned to regard him with a sense of dread. He didn't have his glasses on and therefore, he couldn't see the others very well. Inui still had his glasses on, and when he was inquired about it, he muttered something along the lines of some anti-fog mechanism the lenses of his glasses had.

"Do you like your room nya?"

Tezuka stared at the blurred blob that was Kikumaru briefly. "It's okay."

"Oh." Was it disappointment he heard in Kikumaru's voice? What was he trying to drive at?

"Ne ne Ochibi," this time, Tezuka thought he saw Oishi giving Kikumaru a warning look. "Have you and... you know?"

Ryoma's voice sounded faintly curious. "What?"

"Anou nya..."

Annoyed with his blurry vision, Tezuka finally put on his glasses. Through the wavering mist on his glasses, he saw Kikumaru frown, deep in thought.

"Eiji..." Oishi's voice had definitely sounded... odd.

"Ne Ryoma," Momoshirou spoke up suddenly, a dubious look on his face. "I think Eiji-senpai is trying to find out how far you have gone with Buchou."

There was a pause. Then Kikumaru almost pounced on Momoshirou in glee at throwing out the question he was hesitant to say, but stopped when Momoshirou threw up his hands with a slightly panicked look to fend off his over-enthusiastic and equally naked senpai. Kikumaru pouted, then turned back to his boyfriend (Oishi) and glomped him. Fuji only chuckled softly into his hand. Kawamura looked embarrassed. Kaidou was partially hidden by a piece of rock. But he had looked pretty flushed. Inui was... wait. Was that a notebook he was holding?

Ryoma gazed thoughtfully at all of his senpai, then shrugged. "Saa."

Everyone's gaze seemed to zero in at Tezuka at that moment, as if expecting him to answer when Ryoma didn't. Tezuka ignored them and took off his glasses, reducing all of them to flesh-coloured blobs again. There was a disappointed sigh from Kikumaru before he whispered something to his boyfriend, and was hauled out of the pool by a rather grim looking Oishi briefly after.

Peace was restored in the pool. Well, kind of.

"Maa," Fuji finally spoke up, his soft voice cheerful. "I think I'm done."

The tensai too, exited from the pool. After a little more soaking in silence, Inui got up from the pool, followed by Kaidou moments after he was gone. Kawamura seemed to look uncomfortable staying in the pool with only Tezuka, Ryoma and Momoshirou. He too, soon excused himself, muttering something about playing ping pong. Momoshirou offered to join him.

And suddenly, the pool felt too big.

Tezuka glanced over to where the flesh-coloured blob called Ryoma was still immersed chin-deep in hot water.

"Ryoma," Tezuka finally spoke up, reaching for his glasses. "I think it's almost time for dinner."

"Un."

Moments after Tezuka put on his glasses, Ryoma ducked briefly into the hot water, then stood up. Right in front of where Tezuka was still seated. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to put on his glasses after all, Tezuka thought to himself faintly. With his hair still dripping and body all flushed from the hot water, Ryoma turned and smirked at his boyfriend.

"I thought you said it's almost time for dinner?"

Tezuka blinked. Stared, and then blinked again. "Ah, un."

And the older boy followed a very smug Ryoma out of the common pool.

  
-----

  
Dinner was served in their rooms. Momoshirou and Kikumaru passed by their room talking at the top of their voices. They were discussing on who was going to win for ping pong that night. Tezuka thought Ryoma wanted to join them, but the younger boy seemed inclined to finish his dinner and go straight back into the hot spring. It was just as well that they had one outside their room after all.

Tezuka was very pointedly ignoring Ryoma when the younger boy got out of his yukata and immersed himself in the very much smaller pool outside their room.

"Ne Buchou," boy wonder spoke up, then paused. "Are you going to join them?"

Tezuka glanced over. "I thought I told you to stop calling me 'Buchou'."

A pause.

"No, I'm not joining them."

"Ehh..."

The sound of water bubbling in the hot spring sounded almost cheerful. The serving ladies came in and cleared up their dinner, then laid out two sets of futon on the tatami mats. Although the room wasn't exactly big, Tezuka couldn't help wondering why they had chosen to place the two sets of futon right beside each other.

More silence as Tezuka laid down on his futon and contemplated if he should join the others at ping pong. It wasn't as if he was particularly good at it. In fact, if he was right, the rest of the team were probably there, using the ping pong table as a substitute court for tennis.

"_Tezuka_," Ryoma's voice sounded faint. "I think I..."

Silence. And the obscenely cheerful sound of water bubbling.

Tezuka shot up from where he was lying. "Ryoma?"

By the time Tezuka got to Ryoma's side in the pool, boy wonder had sat up with a jerk and regarded his boyfriend with a sleepy but surprised look. "Why are you wearing your yukata in here?"

The look the older boy gave Ryoma was quietly accusatory. "I thought you fainted in the pool."

"I fell asleep."

Silence yet again. And then, "Since you're already inside the pool, why don't you soak for a while too?"

The former buchou removed his glasses and his soaked yukata, then sat down in the pool, a small frown etched between his brows. It wasn't funny. His heart almost stopped when he thought Ryoma had fainted in the pool. He could drown himself easily in that manner.

Ryoma seemed awfully cheerful about something. Occasionally, Tezuka would feel faint brushes of Ryoma's leg against his inside the pool. The feeling of bare skin brushing against his was almost electric. Each time it happen, Tezuka had to stop himself from jerking away.

"Ne Bu-Tezuka..."

"Hm?"

A soft brush of fingers over the top of his thighs, light and brief enough to be accidental. Tezuka twitched, faintly.

"Are you uncomfortable?"

Tezuka turned to stare at his boyfriend. "...uncomfortable?"

Ryoma shrugged. "You look uncomfortable."

There it was again. That feather-light brush of skin against skin in hot water. Annoyed and more than able to figure out why he was annoyed, Tezuka reached over and stilled Ryoma's legs. Ryoma glanced over, large eyes unblinking. "Hm?"

"It's distracting."

"This?" With a smirk, Ryoma leaned over and slide the length of his leg against Tezuka's.

Tezuka realised that the pool suddenly felt extremely hot. Boiling hot, in fact. He paused, trying to gather his thoughts.

"Or do you mean this?" A familiar hand gently drifting down one of his thighs, fingertips brushing lightly against the inside of his leg.

That was quite enough, Tezuka decided. "Yes. I think you should-"

He reached over and took hold of Ryoma's wrist with the intention of hauling him out of the pool, determined to stop the younger boy from disturbing him further.

"Iyada!" 

A faint struggle then ensued, as Ryoma smirked and tried to twist out of his grip. All the water surrounding them wasn't helping him any. In fact, it made things worse, as the both of them were pretty slippery at the moment.

"Urk!" That was Ryoma tripping in the shallower part of the pool.

As boy wonder sat down on the floor of the pool with a loud 'thump', Tezuka slipped and followed, face-down. It placed him somewhere between Ryoma's legs, his face colliding hard with the other's chest.

"Itai..."

The door to their room flew open. "Buchou! Echizen! You must come and- oh."

Tezuka stared at Momoshirou (the blurred flesh-coloured blob) over Ryoma's shoulder. Momoshirou stared back, wide-eyed.

"UhhgomenneIdidn'tmeantointerruptpleasefeelfreetocontinueaha..ha...ha...er."

The door to their room then slammed shut. Both Tezuka and Ryoma could hear Momoshirou shouting 'EIJI-SENPAI! THEY _ARE_ MAKING FULL USE OF THE POOL!' (in a rather distressed tone) at the top of his voice as he took off from their room.

Tezuka would wince if he could. He settled for closing his eyes in a slightly pained manner.

Ryoma only grinned.

  
-----

  
The second night was better than the first.

That was Tezuka's opinion. At least they were joining the others at playing ping pong for that night (as opposed to soaking in the private pool with Ryoma). While he watched the others totally tear ping pong apart by playing it tennis-style, he also noticed Ryoma nodding off beside him. They did have a long day after all. The morning was spent trekking a few hills near the onsen, and the afternoon was spent making their way back to the onsen. After everyone had showered and gathered for a brief soak in the common pool, they disappeared back into their rooms for dinner, then gathered for ping pong.

Ryoma's head finally made contact with Tezuka's shoulder as he fell asleep.

Fuji smiled at Tezuka, then spoke, soft and yet loud enough that the latter could still hear him over the din the others were making. "I think you should bring him back to your room."

"BURNING! OH YEAH! VICTORY! I AM GOING TO KICK ALL YOUR ASSES!"

"Not so fast Kawamura-senpai! Watch out for my Dunnnnnk Smaaaaassh!"

Boy wonder stirred, briefly.

Fuji chuckled. "Saa... all of them seem to like playing ping pong a lot."

"OH YEAH! OH YEAH! OH YEAH! OH-OH MY GOD!"

"Told you to watch out for my DUNK SMASH!"

Tezuka seemed to sigh, soft. Even he was tired out by the day's events. He wondered briefly about where the others got all this energy from. The former buchou tapped his boyfriend on his shoulder lightly, then stirred him when he didn't react. Ryoma finally woke up and made his way back to their room rather groggily with Tezuka aiding him.

Upon reaching their room, boy wonder had flopped rather ungracefully onto his futon, then passed out. Tezuka tucked the covers over him before sitting down on his own futon to read the day's newspapers. The vague silence (interlaced with faint, bubbling sounds from the onsen outside) of their room was comforting to Tezuka, who knew that he needed the break. Badly. His emotions were still in a mess, despite appearances. Earlier in the day, Ryoma had asked him about something he wasn't intending to think about this soon.

He wanted to understand why there was a lack of intimacy between them.

Of course, the younger boy didn't say it in as many words. He had said something about Kikumaru and Oishi's closeness, and Tezuka got the rest of his hint from the way he was pointedly staring at Tezuka when he muttered that his two senpai seemed almost adhered to each other.

It wasn't that Tezuka didn't want the intimacy. He wanted it. But Ryoma was still too young, in his opinion. Well, it wasn't as if he was very much older than Ryoma, but he felt that the other boy was young enough that they shouldn't be progressing too fast in terms of intimacy. Holding each other was fine. He held Ryoma often enough. They did kiss, a few times, all of them brief brushes of lips against lips. Apparently, it wasn't enough for boy wonder.

He wanted more.

And now, it was a constant internal battle for Tezuka. From the day he discovered that Ryoma had been waiting for himself to ask him out... something in their relationship had shifted, ever so subtly. Ryoma wasn't as clueless as he had often appeared to be. At a lot of instances, Tezuka was sure that he had done things to incite... to provoke. Of course, he constantly provoked and irritated others to no end, but... this was a different type of provocation.

It made Tezuka want to lock himself away in a room and make sure that he stayed far, far away from Ryoma until the latter was legal. He had never experienced such a bad situation before, where the notion of losing control alone could raise nightmares for himself. He was afraid of losing control. Because the consequences might be too much for himself to bear.

"Nn..."

Tezuka watched as Ryoma flipped over on his futon. Right into his lap. He contemplated shifting either himself or boy wonder out of the way, then decided to leave things be, turning back to his newspaper. A while later, Ryoma suddenly sat up on Tezuka's lap, conveniently hitting his boyfriend on the chin, hard. Boy wonder stared at the latter, eyes wide.

"...I thought we are going to play ping pong?"

Tezuka gave the younger boy a puzzled look. "You fell asleep."

"Ehh..." Ryoma stared at Tezuka in a confused manner, still sleepy.

He finally shrugged and leaned over to curl his arms around the older boy, resting his head on Tezuka's left shoulder and closing his eyes tiredly. "Gomen..."

Tezuka rubbed his smarting chin thoughtfully. "It's okay."

"Oya... sumi..."

Gradually, Ryoma's breathing evened out again and Tezuka carefully laid down on his futon with Ryoma still resting on top of him, tucking the covers securely over themselves. Unconsciously, even while asleep, the younger boy adjusted his body until he found the most comfortable resting position against Tezuka, then stilled again in slumber.

The taller boy laid on his futon for a long time staring at the ceiling, trying to make up his mind.

With a soft sigh and slightly resigned look, he finally reached up and switched off the lights.

"Oyasumi, Ryoma."

And then there was nothing but the sound of reassuring silence.

  
-----

  
In Ryoma's opinion, the onsen trip had been a success.

He was sure that it had been a success, because he woke up in Tezuka's arms that morning. Either that, or Tezuka had finally taken some of his words to heart and attempted to do something about their not-quite-there relationship. It wasn't that he minded the lack of intimacy very much. But watching the others... and then watching themselves... his father had once said that they were a bloody unromantic pair.

As much as he didn't want to, Ryoma had to agree.

Sometimes, boy wonder wasn't very sure of what he wanted from Tezuka, actually. But there was something he had been looking for in their relationship. He knew he was cunning and sly about a lot of things that happened between them. That, he had no way of refuting. He had been putting to use some of the handy advice given by Fuji after all.

To say the truth, he never knew that Fuji had _that_ many tricks up his sleeves. Not that Ryoma agreed with all of them, but some of them had given him... inspiration. Fuji was extremely helpful and spontaneous when it came to advice-giving. Apparently, Ryoma wasn't the only one who thought that the development between Tezuka and him had been somewhat slow and near nil.

The past two days were good examples of how and where their relationship would develop if he kept nudging Tezuka.

A part of him didn't want to do that. A part of him _liked_ annoying Tezuka in this manner.

"Are you ready to go?"

Ryoma glanced up from where he was packing his bag to stare at Tezuka. "Un."

The former buchou nodded, then opened the door to leave the room, meeting up with the rest of their team outside. The trip home was a rather quiet affair, as everyone was totally tired out the night before and most of them slept late. Ryoma glanced around, noting that Kikumaru and Oishi were leaning against each other, dozing. Kaidou was nodding off, occasionally resting against Inui, who was awake and writing something in his notebook. Fuji was gazing out of the window beside him, a quiet smile on his face. Kawamura was beside him, nodding off into his own chest. Momoshirou was leaning against Ryoma himself, asleep and snoring rather loudly in the small bus.

Tezuka got off the bus with Ryoma at a stop near his home, and the both of them walked in silence back to the younger boy's house.

"Would you like to go down to the onsen again?" Tezuka's voice was quietly inquiring, but his face was expressionless.

"Un." Ryoma nodded, then paused. "Or we can go fishing too."

Tezuka turned to gaze at him, quiet. "We can."

"Or camping."

"That, too."

Ryoma nodded again, then suddenly stopped walking. "I'm almost home."

The older boy paused, too. He glanced around a little before gently taking Ryoma by his arm and moving him into a sheltered part of the road, obscured from prying eyes at this time of the day. "I hope you had fun, Ryoma."

Boy wonder smirked. "I did."

There was a hesitant pause as Ryoma watched Tezuka try and decide on what to do, before he leaned over and kissed the latter.

It was a Sunday today.

In Ryoma's opinion... Tezuka-days were always the best days.

  
end

Date Completed: 160703  
Date Revised: 170703


End file.
